A.S. HAIDARI
I AM NOT UPROOTED
I am the fifth generation fleeing across borders in search of safety. Oppression and persecution compelled my paternal ancestors to relocate within the country. I became a refugee for the first time when I was just 10-11 years old.
​
I survived atrocity, oppression, murder attempts, dehumanisation, discrimination, annihilation and genocide. ​
​
We begged,
we cried,
we wrote
and yet everyone stood silent,
watched us perishing
bit by bit
in between the elbows
of incarcerating prisons
with no media
or nation stepping forward
(ABDUL SAMAD HAIDARI)
The sky stands still,
nights are empty,
streets moist––
we lull ourselves
over the fresh leftovers
of yesterdays,
fooling ourselves
over distant tomorrows
beyond reach.
Shadows of wicked camps,
cling in caves of nuclear cells;
we turn into powder
before the bare view of monsters,
forcing to breathe ourselves out.
No soil is unfamiliar to Afghani bones,
no foreign camp rejects our blood–
the silent walls,
and the unlived years cried.
The Red Ribbon was prominently featured in the opening remarks video at the 2022 UNHCR General Assembly in Geneva, led by UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi.
Launch of The Red Ribbon,' Jakarta, Indonesia
HIDDEN BEYOND THE LIGHT
Leaving behind the place where we first opened our eyes and the people we have grown up with, is never easy. Departing from home marks the onset of sorrow, an inexplicable pain that gradually ignites, burning from head to toe, every time our hearts yearn for a touch of its soil.
Remember, for those who leave their homes behind, it’s akin to utilizing their final emergency lifeline.
It is not never a choice. Majority of us have no control over direction or destination.
There is no destination,
destination chooses us–
a flock of sheep,
blindfolded,
sold hand to hand for meat.
​
(ABDUL SAMAD HAIDARI)